Lou Spanos, who has coached in both college and the NFL, has been named the new defensive coordinator at UConn.

Spanos, 47, was an analyst last season for Alabama after serving as the linebackers coach for the Tennessee Titans from 2014-18. He was defensive coordinator at UCLA during the 2012 and 2013 seasons. He also spent 15 seasons on the staff of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Hey, it’s the semi-annual “UCONN should drop football and go to the Big East” article. Right on schedule too.

To be honest, if they are truly running a $40M+ deficit, they should probably consider it. UCONN had a Fiesta Bowl berth, but they were 8-4 and the Big East was down that year. They probably have no chance of ever getting back there and their ceiling is probably 8-4 and a middling bowl.

Among the various scoops, financial reports and responses to NCAA allegations this past week, only one matter had this longtime observer of UConn athletics go "Whoa!" and spit up in his Cocoa Krispies.
It was this, in Hartford...

Edsall bolted UConn in the middle of the Arizona night in January 2011. Yes, he has issued his mea culpa. Yes, he said it was a decision he regrets. Nevertheless, his desertion in the desert planted the seed that flowered into the UConn football disaster that, in turn, plays a significant role in the difficult financial straits of the school’s athletic program.

At this point, Edsall should be the last person to pick his successor. His eyes should be on the 2019 schedule, where there certainly are games to be won in the third year of his long-term vision of program building.

When Rentschler Field opened in 2003, public officials vowed a thorough slate of events, a wave of economic development and a transformation of UConn's athletic department. More than 15 years later, those promises remain largely empty.

But some fans have begun to wonder whether football is actually holding UConn back. If the school were less concerned with football, their argument goes, it could join its old basketball rivals in the reconstituted Big East and either latch onto an FCS conference for football or abandon the sport altogether.

Asked recently about the possibility of dropping football for the sake of savings, athletic director David Benedict said that he doesn’t “particularly think that is the answer,” and new UConn President Thomas C. Katsouleas offered a similar appraisal. Given those stances, and the fact that only one school (the University of Idaho) has ever abandoned FBS for good, UConn will likely remain in college football’s top division for the foreseeable future, leaving open the chance that Connecticut is eventually rewarded for its leaders’ faith in the program.

One of the most eye-catching players in the UConn practices this spring has been Art Thompkins, a speedy transfer from Toledo who figures to team with Kevin Mensah next fall in what could be a dangerous two-man attack.

Thanks largely to injuries that obliterated the Huskies’ backfield depth, UConn relied overwhelmingly on sophomore Kevin Mensah, who finished third in the American Athletic Conference with 225 rushing attempts.

Now, however, Mensah is getting some help. One of the most eye-catching players in the UConn practices open to the media so far this spring has been Art Thompkins, a speedy transfer from Toledo who figures to team with Mensah in the fall in what could be a dangerous two-man attack.